CPS Chronicles: Nightmares and Wormholes

by Largefish8

Chapter 10

MLP pt 10

'The atlanteans have much in common with us, the NSC...we both are expanding faster then we can protect. Unlike the atlanteans, we have to deal with their failures. Every Nullspace race has built their civilizations on the ashes of this once proud empire. However, we still find things that come back to bite us later, Nocturnis, the sy yong accident...the 'ghost fleet' in the uncharted sectors. These are all things that prove that sometimes, you shouldn’t go looking...’

Extract from ‘Lecture on the dangers of technological archaeology’
Held on 2116AD Nullspace time at Centuris VII

...

It is well known that males of most species are indifferent to fashion most of the time. So even if someone's going to a fashion show for a friend, there's a very good chance that they'd be bored stiff.

Unfortunately for Matt, he had been forced to come as he STILL owed Rarity for the spiderdrones 'raid' on the boutique the first night he had been on this planet. As a result, he’d been forced to use a shuttlepod from the Skyraid as a taxi when Rarity had gotten a golden opportunity to show some of her new designs at a manehatten show. Luckily he had picked up the talent of all mercs to snooze while standing and was practising this just outside.

Matt stirred as the sound of mischievous giggling disturbed his rest. He looked down to see a couple of colts. "What are you looking at?" he snapped, annoyed at being woken up. "Nothin, mister. Nice Moustache." said one of the colts, a unicorn mischeviously. Matt looked confused before clicking his helmet and taking it off to reveal someone had magicked the aformentioned moustache onto it. "I hate kids." he muttered to himself before looking at the colts. "Go away before I vaporise you and make it look like an accident."

"Vaporize? What's that?" asked one of the colts. For a point, Matt pointed a blaster at a manhole cover and shot a blast that quickly disintegrated it. "Coooool..." said the colts. Matt's brain stalled at that. In his mental script, the colts were already running away but somehow this wasn't happening in reality. "You're not gonna go away, are you." he said dully. The colts all said "Nope."

'Ok, threats probably aren't going to work, anything you can bribe them with?' thought Matt. The only things he could think of was carrots or sugar cubes, which probably wouldn't be that effective.

Luckily backup arrived as Rainbow Dash, who had been as dis-interested as Matt, came into view. "Help." he called out desperately. "Ok, boy, break, nothing to see here," said Rainbow. The colts were apparently losing interest and trotted off. "I'm so glad that fashion show's almost over," said Rainbow, "I'm not sure how much longer I could have waited."

"Least you got to walk around. I have to stay here in case Rarity needs help hauling something. Why does she bring so much stuff?" moaned Matt. "Frankly, I have no idea," said Rainbow Dash, "I only care about fashion if it's aerodynamic."

"The sooner I’m back in my nice warm barn thing, the better." said Matt, happily "I don't think the manehatten ponies like my ships parking job." referring to how he'd accidentally squashed a empty guard stable when landing. "I told you it should have been parked on that cloud," said Rainbow Dash. "How many times do I have to tell you? Just because my ship can fly doesn't mean it can land on clouds. It doesn't work that way," said Matt.

"Why not ask Twilight to cast a cloud walking spell on it?" suggested Rainbow. Matt shook his head "No...magic and tech mix like fire and oil...only a bigger explosion." he said warningly before the show began to empty. "Well...lets get this over with." said Matt, turning to go in only to be blocked by two large earth stallions inside the reception.

"Sorry, authorized personal only," said one of the stallions. "I'm with one of the designers...designated driver." said Matt, dully before trying to push past again. "Do you have a pass?" asked the other. "No...I have a laser pistol...does that count?" said Matt, not really paying too much attention to the question. "Sorry, no backstage pass, no pass," said the first stallion.

"I'm with rarity...and I'm started to get annoyed." said Matt, starting to glare. Dash joined in "He really is with Rarity. Anyway, the fashion shows over." she said. "A clod like you, get serious," said the first stallion. Matt's eye twitched as he said in a worrying tone, "You want me to get serious." Fortunately, Rarity just happened to come out at that moment. "Oh, Matt, Rainbow Dash, I'm so sorry it took so long. But you know how it is with the world of fashion."

"Thats fine...I was about to help this place do some job cuts." Matt said in a over-friendly tone glaring at the stallion bouncers. Rarity nodded "Its ok, gentlecolts. Mr Lynch helped me and my friends get here in time." she said to the stallions who trotted off towards the stage, glaring at Matt.

Matt leaned against a wall and muttered, "Whoops" when one of the ropes tethered to the sandbag just happened to break loose. Rarity and Dash winced as a sandbag scored a direct hit on the head of the stallion bouncer who had insulted Matt before looking suspiciously at him. Matt shrugged and said "Karma?" hiding his combat knife.

Then Matt turned to Rarity and said, "Anyways, where's all the stuff you want me to haul?" Rarity said "Just in here." leading the way backstage to several dozen boxes...at least a dozen more then had been brought. "Whu? what?" said Matt weakly looking at the stack before rolling his eyes "Fine..." Rarity said proudly "I got so much orders from this show. I do hope they invite me again next year." "Yeah, next time you should rent a dump truck to move this," said Matt. Rarity and Dash looked confused at that as Matt grabbed the first box. "Whats a dump truck?" asked Dash.

...

Twilight trotted up to where Matt had parked the metallic winged egg Matt called a 'shuttlepod', spotting that Fluttershy, Applejack and Pinkie were already there, loaded down with the things they had gotten in the city. "Hi girls. Have you seen Matt? I would have thought he, Rarity and Dash would be back by now." she said happily. "He oughta be here soon," said Applejack, "That show ended 10 minutes ago."

Several griffons could be seen walking into view when the spotted the group and the ship "What the? What kinda tin cans that? Somer stupid earth pony toy?" said one of them rudely looking at the pod. "For your information, this happens to be a high-tech flyin' transport-type machine," said Applejack.

"You ponies obviously didn;t make it then." said another of the griffons before the trio laughed. At that point they stopped as the sight of what looks like a stack of crates with legs came round the corner and this sort of thing usually gets attention, if only for the novelty value. Rarity walked besides it and was giving directions, "Now a bit more to the left, no, you're drifting, go right now, now straight, you might want to slow down a bit."

A stream of angry alien gibberish sounded from behind the crates, causing Rainbow, who was hovering overhead to laugh a bit followed by a thud and a yelp which caused her to laugh more. Eventually, the crates were set down and Matt said, "There, finally, now to pack all this-OH COME ON!" The last part was when he noticed the other girls' packages. "What in the great egg?" said one of the griffons in shock, spotting Matt. "That your pet?" "Pet?" said Matt, darkly, his nerves starting to crack.

"It looks like some sort of balding monkey," said one griffon. "Sure is ugly," said another. "Monkey?" growled Matt, his voice rising a bit. "Now, boys, there's no need for this blow out of proportion," said Twilight, nervously as she remembered the temper Gilda had shown off the previous year. "I've faced things that have more tentacles then teeth and the disposition of a rabid jaguar...and thats just the drill sergeant. I will not take beak from a trio of overgrown seagulls." snapped Matt, his eye twitching.

"Seagulls?! This ape has the nerve to call us seagulls!" shouted one of the griffins. "I think we should take this guy for a ride," said another darkly. Matt smirked coldly "Feel free to try. Everyone tells me I have feathers in my cap...maybe I should add some?" he commented.

"I think we should move them away from each other," said Fluttershy. "Yeah, they're as fit to scrap as two bulls with their tails tied together," said Applejack. The griffons slowly moved to surround Matt. "I'm gonna show you how griffons fi-OOF!" began one, lunging at Matt, only to recieve a boot to the beak from Matt.

"And there's plenty more where that came from, Polly!" snapped Matt. The other two griffons growled and lunged at Matt, who ducked down, grabbing one of them by the wing and sending her flight into the side of the shuttlepod with a clang, getting stuck. The third one span in the air to grab Matt from behind in a bearhug...only to be headbutted in the face followed by an elbow to the chest.

"Oh my," said Fluttershy, nervously as Matt clocked the second griffon across the head as she pulled her head free, knocking her out. "We should do something." Rainbow was whooping and cheering Matt on "Nice one, Matt!" She called out as Matt span to catch the first griffon on the beak again before she noticed the others glaring at him "I mean, maybe we should stop him." she said sheepishly.

"Well, time to see if that time freeze spell still works," said Twilight before her horn started glowing. It seemed too as a bolt of magic caused the griffons to freeze in place, surprising Matt a little but certainly surprising the griffons themselves. "There, now we can separate them," said Twilight. "Er, can we?" asked Applejack. Matt, taking a few calming breaths said "I'm fine...perfectly fine." mostly to himself before looking at the annoyed expressions of five of the ponies.

"What? They were practically asking for it," said Matt. "I can't believe you did that, Matt." scolded Twilight, gesturing to the bruised, battered but probably still defiant Griffons. Applejack nodded "Twi's right...Weren’t no need beat down on them like that." she said. "They called me a monkey and an ape," said Matt. Pinkie said promptly "Sticks and stones and sometimes aliens may break my bones but words will never hurt anypony."

"Well...they still could have used an ego deflation," said Matt, "Let's just load up and get out of here before that spell wears off." Fluttershy said with a sigh "I'm disappointed in you, Matt." as Matt opened the ship. Dash said a little unconvincingly "Yeah...disappointed...though the way you backflipped that griffon..." before seeing Fluttershy's glare "...erm...yeah, disappointed."

Matt glanced the ponies' packages and commented, "Not sure there's enough room for all this." He sighed before realising that maybe this was a bad time to upset his only friends on this planet at the moment before going in to check what he could fit in his wrist computers storage buffer.

...

The flight back to Ponyville was rather uncomfortable. Not just because of the ungainly amount of packages in the back, but the cold air the ponies seem to be giving Matt.

"Its not like they don;t know to expect my approach." said matt, talking to Aria over the comm. Aria sighed...how to explain to someone like Matt. "Sir...this is not the NSC or independant colonies. Kicking seven shades of crap out of people is usually frowned upon." she said as calmly as she could.

"They weren't hurt that badly," said Matt, dismissively "The worst they'll probably have after the spell unfreezes is a limp for a few days." "Sir...you are lucky you left before the authorities arrived. I am certain you have committed a large enough infraction to be incarcerated." said Aria, harshly.

"That sounds a little over the top," said Matt, "It was just a small tussle." "Sir...you are a trained private military contractor. They are civilians. You could have quite easily terminated them." said Aria, now sounding angry. Matt thought back and realized she had a point. "Ok, ok, maybe I got a bit carried away," said Matt.

"The least you can do is apologise to the girls...I will attempt to find out WHO you ended up tenderizing so an apology can be issued to them too." said Aria adding "Be careful...your flightpath is taking you close to the blizzard in sector A-6. The shuttlepod is not rated for arctic planets. Skyraid Out." before signing off.

Matt sighed, switching to autopilot before getting up. He was about to head into the passenger's area when he heard Fluttershy's voice, "He was pretty brutal with those griffons, wasn't he?" "Ah, I've got into worse scraps," said Rainbow Dash's voice, "I'm sure he could have lasted a little longer." "Rainbow Dash, those guys could have seriously hurt each other," said Twilight, "If I hadn't stepped in, the guards would have had to come."

Matt stopped, leaning down to listen closer. He'd always been curious if their thoughts about him were genuine. "I'm sure Matt means well most of the time, but that temper of his is almost savage," said Rarity, "Sometimes I wonder what would happen if we ever made him too mad." Matt stopped at that before the little voice that lived in his head reminded him that his idea of a collectors item was a anti tank rifle. "Hmm...I suppose I let that slide...surely I'm not that scary..." he muttered to himself.

"It's not his temper that's so bad," said Pinkie, "It's his reaction that you need to worry about. I mean, I'm sure everyone likes a surprise now and then, but he's more likely to hit something when something startles him." Matt stopped at that "I do not...most of the time." he said to himself. "Not to mention he seems to prefer using violence to solve most of his problems," said Twilight, "I don't know about where he may come from, but that just isn't healthy for someone who lives with others." Matt did stop at that "Wait a second..." he began

"I mean, suppose he should go too far with someone," said Twilight, "He's bound to get himself into serious trouble. I'm not sure if Princess Celestia would allow him to live on his own." Matt stopped at that, thoughts of an apology gently roasting away in a conclusion jumped fury. before opening the door "Hi." he said coldly, making the ponies jump. "Just came to say...we're a few hours away...its either that or a thunderstorm over Everfree."

"Oh, I see," said Twilight. "Why must the weather always be so inconvenient over Everfree?" said Rarity, "Letting the clouds run wild there seems so wrong." "Yes...you'd think something would be done about all that violence." said Matt in a sub-zero tone before stomping back into the control room and slamming the door.

"Autopilot, I'm taking a nap, wake me up when we get there," said Matt. "Protocol dictates that at least one capable pilot should be alert at all times," said the autopilot. "Pilot commands you bite me." said Matt angrily, putting his hat over his eyes. The autopilot beeped before claiming "Unable to comply...this unit is not fitted with dental equipment."

...

Sometime later, Matt was woken up by the sound of someone tapping on the door. "Hey Matt, Matt, what's going on? Why are we flying through all this snow?" called Rainbow Dash. Matt yawned "No snow...ship can;t fly in snow..." he said half asleep before opening his eyes in time for a giant clump of snowflakes to hit the windscreen. "GAH...SNOW!" he yelled, grabbing the controls. "Warning...fuel temperature dangerously low...ice crystals detected in main feed." said the computer calmly as the ship started to shake.

"What the hell? What are we doing here?" yelled Matt before trying to pull the ship up. "Priority location was extracted to nav computer from wrist computer. Location 2 was detected in vicinity. Course re-routed to intercept. Alert...high energy magi lifeforms detected." claimed the autopilot unit. "Energy what?" asked Matt before suddenly he heard an unearthly howling.

He looked up to see something shooting towards the cockpit. "Oh fu-" he began.

...

Quite suddenly, the ponies felt the ship lurch before it started dropping. The worrying part was that it was fast enough for the non-winged ponies to be floating. An automated message began. stating calmly "Alert...a engine error has occurred...we at Starline industries apologise and promise a full refund if you survive...thank you for using Starline industries." After a second or two gravity returned and Twilight managed to make it over to the cockpit door, opening it to show that all the controls were frozen or destroyed, Matt leaning back in his seat out cold and covered in frost.

"Uh, girls, I think we have a problem," said Twilight. The others peered in to see the unconscious Matt, as well as the shape of several buildings in the blizzard straight ahead, as if on a steep slope "Uh, Matt, now's not a good time to not be awake," said Twilight before using her wake-up spell. Matt's eyes shot open with a scream of "UUUUCK...please tell me thats just a cliff we’re heading for." he said, saying the past part more calmly

"Uh, I think there's some buildings on that cliff as well," said Fluttershy, as reasonably as a pony in her situation could...which wasn’t much to be honest. Matt screamed and pulled back on any control that was still working, the ship starting to level out after a few seconds of this... "Ah...nothing to it...just keep your head and..." began Matt, before all other thoughts were shaken out as the pod clipped the roof of a hut and smashed into the snow.

Fortunately, the snow was thick enough to cushion most of the force of the crash. But still, there were some definite sounds of metal cracking and breaking. The ship finally skidded to a halt in what had once been a town square, though the snow covering indicated that nothing had lived there for years. Matt groaned, pushing himself up from where the crash had forced him over the controls. "uuuugh...everyone ok?" he called.

"I think I lost my stomach in the crash," said Pinkie, a little green in the face. "Thank god for gravity dampners. Any landing you can walk away from and all that..." moaned Matt, rubbing his forehead and bringing his hand back to show blood, a cut from when the windscreen had shattered. "What the hell was that thing?" he said, remembering the sight of the horse made of snow smashing through enforced glass like it was nothing.

"I believe the common term for it is a mountain," said Rainbow Dash flatly. "No...mountains don’t scream at you." said Matt, distantly before adding more normally "Except on Mythicos...weird place that." "What screaming?" asked Rarity. "Urgh...I dunno." said Matt, getting up and searching the gear on the floor to pull a yellow and black backpack and what looked like a cylinder out. "We gotta find shelter..." he said before spotting what looked like a castle overlooking the town.

Apparently the castle had been well-built as it seemed durable despite being abandoned for who knows how many years. "We'll stay in there," he said, pointing. The group climbed out of the pod and were immediately buffeted by the blizzards wind. Matt took a moment to look at the pod...or what was left of it. The port wing had been sheered off at some point in the crash and one of the boosters was gone. It wouldn;t fly again.

"But what about the packages?" yelled Rarity over the wind. "Leave them, they'll only slow us down!" yelled Matt, "Beside, the cold will keep them fresh or something!" Rarity was about to reject that idea when a particularly strong gust of wind caused what had looked like solid snow under the pod to vanish, the ship tipping down into what had once been a river of some kind, now full of snow. There was a crunch from inside. "Still want to get them?" said Matt dully.

"We need to keep moving," called Twilight, "If we stay still too long, we'll start to freeze." Matt nodded "Lets move." he called out over the howling wind.

...

Unfortunately it appeared the previous owners had locked the door with a spell. Twilight probed the lock carefully as Matt seemed to be looking up at something. "How long will it take to get that open?" asked Rainbow Dash, "I'm getting icicles on my wings." "I don't know...this is a really powerful spell." said Twilight. "Does it make the door invincible?" asked Matt. "Well...not particulary," said Twilight, "It just keeps the door closed."

"Good...step aside please. I found a key." said Matt, drawing his plasma pistol and setting it to narrow beam. "Wait, wait, if you blow the door down, how will we keep the storm out?" said Twilight. Matt aimed and blasted the lock, either not hearing or not caring. After a second for the lock to cool he tried the handle. "There...doors open..." he commented.

Still, the door was heavy so it took the combined strength of Applejack and Rainbow Dash to open it. Matt aimed his blaster into the room beyond before lowering it and whistling...espetially at the large unicorn statue in the hall. "Wow...your ancestors had bigger ego’s then Capt Dante." he said.

"I've read about this place," said Twilight, "We must be in the royal castle of the Unicorn Kingdom. This place has been abandoned for over a thousand years." "If it's warm enough, I don't care if it was built last month," said Rainbow Dash. Matt looked at the icicles on the statue and the roof. "Well...its warmer then outside." he said finally before putting the backpack down and starting to go through it. "C'mon...I know there's one in here." he muttered before pulling out an orange tube. "Bingo." he said triumphantly.

"What's that?" asked Pinkie. "Thermal flare. Instant heat without the problem of burning your shelter down." said Matt happily, bending the tube with a crack and shaking it till it started to glow before dropping it. Instantly the room around the flare began to feel the benefits, warming up as the tube glowed brighter. "Well, we won't freeze here," said Applejack, "But won't do us much good if we don't have soemthin' ta eat." Matt pulled out a silver covered tray. “I;d like to say there was food in here but..."

"Ooh, let me try," said Pinkie before swiping the tray and shoving it into her mouth. She chewed a little before getting a disgusted look and spitting it out. "NSC 'Meals ready to eat'. Full of vitamins and minerals but sadly lots of taste. Luckily they taste the same when they go off." said Matt, sympathetically.

"Is that all we have?" asked Rainbow Dash. "It's not like we packed a picnic," said Applejack. "Right, that's the only food here," said Matt, "I don't like its taste any more than you guys will, but it's all we have to...Pinkie, why are you sprinkling salt on my leg?"

...

The mood hadn;t improved after the first few hours, Matt trying to get his wrist comps comm to work. "Come on, you piece of junk." he muttered. "Why did you have to fly us out here anyways?" snapped Rainbow Dash. "Oh...its my fault? Stupid autopilot decided to give me a guided tour...oops." yelled Matt. "Autopilot? As in you weren't the one flying?" said Dash darkly. Matt returned the glare before noticing the others had joined in. "What? Even violent aliens need their naptime." he said annoyed.

"You can't let a flyer sleep when they're flying," said Twilight. "Even I know that," said Fluttershy. "I'm not a flyer...my ship...was...and it has an autopilot to do it for me..." said Matt, angrily. "Then why did it take us to this dreadfully cold and desolate place?" demanded Rarity. "Something went wrong with the nav computer...said something was here." said Matt, calming down a bit before a blast of wind shot through the hall from the east door.

The ponies shuddered from the cold and Fluttershy said, "I thought this place would be warm." "It's been abandoned for a thousand years," said Applejack, "Parts of it are bound to break down." "I'll go check." muttered Matt darkly, picking up his blaster and walking for the door.

"Matt, you don't have to go," said Twilight. "No, it's probably safer," said Matt, "You probably wouldn't want such a dangerously violent guy right next to you all the time." The ponies stopped at that as Matt walked off.

"Did he just say..." started Applejack. "Oh, you think he heard what we said about him earlier?" asked Fluttershy. "I'm pretty sure that's proof he did," said Pinkie. "You don;t think he thinks...he thinks we're gonna lock him up?" said Rainbow.

...

Matt's hotheaded mood was just about hot enough to keep the wind from freezing him, but not much hotter than that. "Stupid ungrateful hay-munchers," grumbled Matt, "I pull them out of the heat all those times and this is what they think of me?”

He turned a corner before noticing the silence. Even the wind sounded muted...apart from a faint skittering noise that went on for a split second after he stopped moving. "I hear you." he muttered, slowly readying his plasma pistol before continuing, the skittering starting again.

"Ok, you little rats," said Matt, "Come out with your paws up." A humming noise began at that, a faint glow appearing near the roof. "Ooooh shit." began matt before dodging back as what looked like a fireball shot out, blasting a hole in the masonry where he had been standing a second before. Matt span back, firing a hail before seeing a enshadowed shape crawl away rapidly. Matt ran after it, gun out...turned the corner and ran into Pinkie.

"Uh, Matt, me and the girls just wanted to apologize for..." she noticed Matt's somewhat manic look, "Is this a bad time?" "Did you see anything? It was big...and fast...and its armed." said Matt, manically, looking up. Pinkie blinked and said, "Oh, I get it. You took a big bite of ice, didn't you? I did that once and my brain was scrambled with cold."

"It spat a fireball at me." glared Matt, leading Pinkie round the corner to point out exhibit A: the large and still glowing hole. "Oooh...did you do that?" said Pinkie, looking at the melted rock. Matt glared "No...the thing did it." he said, kicking the wall angrily, only for the ancient masonry to give way and the rest of the wall to fall...revealing something neither of them expected. What looked like a ancient sea creature was smashed into the side, having demolished most of the east wing. Matt had only seen it in pictures. "Thats an atlantean ship." he said in a small voice, looking at the crystalline vessel.

"You sure it's not one of those fossil thingies?" asked Pinkie. "Pretty sure," said Matt, "Especially since I don't think you have any fossils here." Matt looked at the ship and the black scorch scores in the side. The crash had clearly not been intentional. "Well...looks like we found the draft." Matt joked before running down the open sided corridor to where a open hatch in the ship was revealed. The corridor inside was surprisingly still lit, though it was cracked from damage. "Hey...wanna explore, Pinkie?" said matt with a grin.

Pinkie looked down at the countless cracks in the floor. "I don't know," she said, "It doesn't look safe." "Safe? Of course it's safe," said Matt as he started pushing her forward, "This stone was built to LAAAAAAAAAAAAST!" The last part came from when the floor gave out from under Matt and Pinkie and sent them falling down.

Pinkie jumped up immediately and looked around at the various crystalline boxes around the room. "Oh...It was lucky that I landed on something soft." she said happily before hearing a groan. "Oopsie...Sorry Matt." she said apologetically, jumping off Matt who had been the unlucky crashmat. "Stupid lousy-quality stone," groaned Matt.

Pinkie hopped over to one of the boxes and poked a hopeful looking rune which glowed, the top of the box segmenting and folding away to reveal rows of fruit, veg and other foodstuffs, as well as bottles of clear water, though the latter was frozen. "Yay! Food!" she called.

Matt leaned up "Thats...nice." he said weakly before noticing a smaller case at the side. "oh...what we got here?" he commented, elbowing the case top and fracturing it to reveal "A tiara? What the hell?" he muttered. Still, Matt could tell this tiara was valuable, mainly because it was made of platinum and had amthysts set into it.

Matt settled for dropping it in the open food chest and, with pinkies help, started dragging it out. "Least you don;t have to eat my leg now." said Matt, cheerfully.

"Ah, I wouldn't really do that," said Pinkie, "Just looking at it is enough to make me lose my appetite. I mean, it's got such an uneven coat of fur and all those toes are just icky." Matt just stared before shaking his head with a sigh. "You are too random." he muttered.

...

The arrival of the food crate was met warmly when the duo returned. "Dig in...there's months worth of that stuff...more then enough to wait this storm out." Matt said cheerfully. "This is a lot better than that other stuff," said Rainbow, "Thanks a lot." She quickly started eating some of the apples. Rarity reached in with her magic to pull out a fruit and ended up pulling out the tiara instead. "Oh...Matt. Where did you find this?" she asked. Matt looked over from telling Twi about the crashed ship "Oh...it musta been cargo like everything else."

"Hey, I saw that doodad before," said Applejack, pointing at the tiara. Rarity scoffed and said, "Where could you have possibly seen a fabulous crown like this?" "In one of them crystal recordin's down in the Ancient pit," said Applejack. "She's right," said Twilight, "I think that's the Unicorn Tiara of Eliteness, one of the Primium Artifacts. It belonged to the leader of the unicorns." "The what now?" said Matt, confused.

"The Primium Artifacts are the most ancient relics known in Equestrian history," said Twilight, "Each of them contained the purest embodiment of each of the three races of pony and can bring out the highest potential of whoever wears them. But they've been lost for ages." "Hmm...so if you put that on, your magic would be supercharged." said Matt, looking at the innocent looking tiara.

"That's what the legends say," said Twilight, "But why would those Ancients keep it here?" "Atlantean techs the only sort that’s magi immune." said Matt before seeing their look "Magi energys our name for magic. I didn;t come up with the name." he said. "How do we know it's the real thing?" asked Rainbow Dash, "It could be just a tiara."

"What you gonna do? Put it on? I don;t think thats such a good idea." began Matt.
"Oh, I don't see what the problem would be," said Rarity as she lifted up the crown with her horn's power and moved it towards her head. "Oh no you don't," snapped Matt before swiping the tiara, "No one's using this thing. And to make sure, I'm keeping it right here." With that, Matt shoved the tiara into the backpack from the ship. "Its perfectly safe there. Who knows what it'll do if you put it on?"

"Besides, I think we oughta get workin' on findin' a way back home," said Applejack, "I don't think we'll be able ta climb down this mountain." "We'll just wait for the blizzard to stop. It can’t last forever...right?" said matt, before noticing Twilights look "I know that look...thats the 'uh oh' look. I’ve seen it too many times to not spot it." he said.

"I have a feeling that the Ancients chose this place for a reason," said Twilight. "Uh, besides the near-inaccessablity?" asked Matt. "Anyway...you didn’t see the ship. No way that landing was intentional. Something shot it down." said Matt, thinking back to whatever had ambushed him before he’d met Pinkie.

"Who could have done that?" asked Fluttershy. "I'm not sure, but I think it may have been those ghostly horses," said Matt. He turned to look at them "What am I saying? Even for this planet there isn’t ghostly hor...there are ghostly horses, aren’t there?" he said cheerfully before his voice went dull as he saw their looks.

"Matt, did those creatures make a scary howling sound?" asked Twilight. "Yeah, and did it go like this?" asked Pinkie before making a very strange-sounding howl.

"Worryingly like that." said Matt a little unnerved. "That must have been a windigo then," said Twilight, "They're winter spirits of hatred, who drove the three pony races from their first homes. And this must have been the original Unicorn Kingdom." "Uh, are they going to eat us?" asked Matt worriedly. "Uh, no, but they'll feed on our animosity," said Twilight, "Where did you get that idea?"

"Over the years, I’ve been on the menu of many lifeforms." said Matt, conversationally. "Well, it won't be hard to get rid of them, right?" asked Fluttershy, "Twilight can make that Fire of Friendship to keep them away, right?" Twilight shook her head "I think we'd need the elements for that." she said gravely. Matt shrugged "Lets just not get angry then." he said conversationally. "Right, we will just calm and civilized," said Rarity, "Not a discourageable word among us."

"Yes...and nobody think about how we're probably in their nest." said Matt sarcastically to himself. "So, how long do we have to wait in here?" asked Rainbow Dash, "I mean, they'll give up at some point, right?"

...

Two Days later...

"'They'll give up at some point.'" said Matt, sarcastically while chewing on an apple from the supply crate. It had been two days since the crash and if anything the storm had increased...as if the things causing it knew they were there...which seeing as Matt had flown the shuttle through one of them was almost a certainty.

Of course, the most likely reason they hadn't left was because of the growing tension of being stuck in one place for so long. The six girls may be good friends, but even the best of friends can become really irritable if they're together for too long.

For Matt, this wasn’t too bad as he had turned an empty room in the still intact west wing into a inprompt shooting range or as Matt was calling it 'the stress relief room'. It was a worrying indication to any outside force watching of his sanity that the targets had pictures of darius, the merc known as dante and various other pains in Matts butt on them. "I'll shoot that smirk off your face yet," said Matt as he aimed at a picture, "Won't be so happy for long, will ya?"

After a second he looked at the emergency beacon that had been in the survival pack. This whole incident was a catch 22. If he didn’t engage the beacon they could be stuck here forever...but if he did, it was a guarantee that the Icarus would pick it up. "It might not have to come to that," said Matt, "I mean, somepony's eventually gonna notice the girls missing and send out a rescue party."

The little niggling doubt in his head said 'True that...except the stupid autopilot took you off course by a few hundred miles in the wrong direction.' Applejack wandered into the room in time to see Matt yell at empty air "Shut up, brain." "Matt's finally startin’ to crack," said Applejack to herself with a sigh "Why am ah not surprised?" Matt shrieked in surprise at that "DON’T...do that." he said, twitching.

"Well, now that you're listenin' to a voice besides the ones in yer head, ya got any bright ideas for gettin' out of here?" asked Applejack, "Them food storages won't last forever." "There's nothing we can do. The emergency beacons....broken. Musta been the crash." said Matt, lying smoothly. If they thought it was broken, less chance of them accidentally activating it.

"Well, them windigos aren't going away anytime soon," said Applejack, "Surely you got somethin' that can make them go. Maybe a really big torch or somethin'." "No...there's some arctic survival gear in the pack...but only human sized. Ok...there must be a way out of here...hell, your ancestors managed it." said Matt, a little tired before noticing Applejack looking at the impromptu targets, more precisely at how dante's picture had earnt the most shots.

"You think you oughta be wastin' your shots on these?" asked Applejack. "Its better then going nuts. Pinkie tried to make a rock cake from real rocks an hour ago...though that might be the wierd purple fruit she ate from the crate." said Matt, reasonably.

"Exactly, we can't stay here much longer," said Applejack, "It's just a matter of time before Pinkie snaps and, well...I'd rather not think on that." Matt shuddered “Either surprise or pinkamena." he finished in a worried voice. "I'll raid the wreck tomorrow. There must be something we can use...a shuttle, survival gear...even an escape pod could get us far enough away."

"Better hurry with that," said Applejack, "The others won't be able to stand bein' cooped up much longer either."

...

Rainbow fluttered around the atrium where the gang had camped down for the last two days. While it had been big enough for her to fly a little, now... "I gotta get out of here...I feel like the walls are closing in." she said, looking around worried. "For the twelfth time, the walls are not closing in," said Rarity, "They're exactly where they're supposed to be."

"For now, but sooner or later they're going to come tumbling down on us," said Rainbow Dash, "I have to get out of here before- WHAT WAS THAT?" "What was what?" asked Fluttershy looking around. The group turned to where Rainbow Dash was pointing "I don't see anything, darling." said Rarity, carefully using magic to shine a light into the alcove to reveal nothing. "I'm sure I saw...something. It looked like it had rubies for eyes." said Rainbow.

"Rainbow Dash, I'm getting worried for you," said Fluttershy, "You've been inside for too long." Matt and Applejack walked in at that "Ah, the hallucination stage...did you eat that purple fruit?" said Matt, teasingly.

"I'm sure I saw something," said Rainbow Dash. "Rainbow, I think you need to lie down and get some shut-eye," said Applejack. "Yeah...and I'm gonna run a toxin test on the rest of the alien fruit." said Matt, strolling towards the depleted food crate before seeing his bag was open and "Hey...who took the tiara?" he said. "Not me," said Fluttershy. "Why would I want it?" said Rainbow. "I already have my own hat," said Applejack.

Matt looked at Pinkie who was sleeping off the kogana fruit, a fruit only really meant to be eaten by combine, that she'd eaten before dismissing her and looking around "Twilight in that library in the north wing again?" he asked, spotting the unicorns absence.

"She spends all her time there," said Rarity, "I don't know how she stay in such a dusty room for so long." "The same reason I use that old ballroom as a shooting range." said Matt before walking off to find Twilight. As Matt was walking away, Rarity saw that the tiara had slipped out of his bag. "Oh Matt, I-" she called, but he had already left. She looked at the tiara and said, "Well, I suppose there's no trouble in just trying it on for a little while," before levitating the tiara to her head.

The tiara seemed to flash for a second before altering to a more comfortable fit on Raritys head. Fluttershy looked at Rarity, saying "You look just like you did in the hearts warming eve pageant." kindly. "Yes, it was a faithful representation of the original," said Rarity, "But I still need a royal cape to match. I wonder if there's one preserved around here somewhere."

The trio looked around for such a thing, nopony thinking to look up to where rainbow dash's 'hallucination' watched them with cold logic.

...

Matt walked into the old castle library to see Twilight at one of the reading tables that were still intact. "Hey, twilight...you seen the tia...what you got there? he asked, noticing Twilights grave expression as she read. "I think one of your Ancients used this book for a log," said Twilight, "Apparently, they were trapped here like we were."

Matt looked at the book before picking it up and beginning to read, his translator nanites allowing him to understand it "Entry 212: The ashen caught us off guard. Between the abomination from the administration lab and their fleet, it was over in minutes. Our ship was evacuating essential devices and artifacts when they hit us. There are 12 of us plus the cerberus project left. We have enough food for months...hopefully Taleth will send reinforcements." Matt read out loud.

Matt looked down to the next legible entry “Entry 220: The local lifeforms are more diverse than we thought, though this is not a good thing here. We've been stranded here for several days because some sort of weather creature has been creating a blizzard. If that weren't bad enough, Cerberus has been acting- Just a minute, I'm needed elsewhere.”

"Sounds bad." said Matt, worried before looking at the next page and paling "Last entry: Cerberus must have been damaged in the crash. It is concidering us all intruders...I think I am the only one left. I can hear him outside...he knows I have nowhere to run. If you find this message...GET OUT!" read Matt out loud.

Twilight also looked scared. "Did they say what Cerberus is?" asked Twilight. "No...the rests all burnt away." said Matt weakly before looking sat Twilight. If it killed its own crew...what'll it do to people who looted the ship?" he asked weakly before the two started running back to the atrium

They ran into the atrium, Matt yelling, "Girls, we have a-" He stopped when he saw what looked like a mechanical dog with red optics "Oh boy...girls...lets all back away from the potentially homicidal robot." Matt said calmly. The bot turned to look at Matt "Multiple weapons detected...class 2 technology...threat level 4 percent." it chimed calmly

"4 percent? Hey, I'm a bigger threat than that! I've a big list of enemies who want to whack me," snapped Matt. The bot looked at Matt for a minute before saying, "Exaggeration to compensate for shortcomings, re-evaluating threat level to 3 percent."

"Why you little..." began Matt angrily before the bot looked around "Untriggered beacon detected." it said calmly, focussing on the emergency beacon in Matts pack. "Erm...its broken." said Matt lamely only for the bot, in a few bounds to reach the pack and lift the beacon out "Internal scan indicates 100% functionality."

"Wait, ya mean we coulda called for help all along?" asked Applejack accusingly. "Yes...the sort of help that nearly blew the town up...have we forgotten who else has a starship?" said Matt, annoyed "The icarus'll pick up the beacon too." "And so the only other option was to stay trapped here?" snapped Rainbow Dash.

"When the other choice is to be shot, I think I'd prefer to wait for a local rescue team." snapped Matt before looking at the bot "...And as for you...what rock did you come out from under?" The bot returned the look, saying calmly "On-board administrative unit 2-9-7."

The bot continued calmly "The chance of an orbital ship detecting the beacon without orbital assistance is 4.5 percent." "In that case, let's get this thing working," said Pinkie before walking over to the beacon. It took her a few tries to activate it, partially because she didn't know how it work, but mainly because she didn't have fingers.

Matt tried to grab the beacon but was too late, the top of it opening and a rhythmic beeping beginning. "Great...we're dead." he said, matter-of-fact'ly. "He just said that there was a small chance that the Icarus would find us," said Fluttershy. "Yeah, but who else would respond to this beacon?" retorted Matt, "It sends out an electronic signal, nopony here would be able to pick it up."

"What about your ship?" suggested Twilight. Matt sighed "Thats only if Aria isn’t joy riding in that body she made." he said glumly. "The icarus has better gear...plus, their ship hasn’t crashed." "This is a matter of survival, Matt," said Applejack, "Ya gotta consider every option, even if ya don't wanna." "We're gonna die." muttered Matt to himself.

...

A little later...

Matt had decided that, if he was gonna be shot later, he’d explore the shipwreck first. "Stupid junk." he muttered, picking his way through a debris strewn corridor. Matt knew that a crashed ship wouldn't be very neat, especially if it's been crashed for thousands of years, but this ship seemed to be especially messy.

He finally came to what he thought was the armoury and storage room. "Finally...lets see how darius's men like plasma staff fire." he muttered, trying the door control, only for it to open a inch. "Stupid ancient..." he muttered, pulling at it and finally getting it open...for a skeleton to fall on him.

Naturally, Matt screamed and jumped back, pulling the skeleton off of him and throwing it to the floor. "Bloody hell...guess its not as deserted as I....thought." he said, his voice trailing off as he looked into the storeroom. The skeleton had not been alone, the room containing at least 11 other human skeletons as well as a mix and match of locals. "Dear...lord." Matt muttered, walking into the room slowly. The console at the far end appeared to still be active, a video feed on pause.

Matt carefully walked over and pressed a button, causing the vid to restart. "This is zandi...Cerberus has gone nuts. He just shot the chief engineer. Someone get down here before he gets in..." said the panicked face of an atlantean on the feed before a blast hit him in the back, causing him to slump down before a familier face loomed on the screen. "Intruder neutralized...continuing sweep." said the face of the 'administrative unit'.

"Oh smeg, oh smeg, oh smeg," said Matt, "I just left the girls with a psycho robot." Matt turned to look around before running for the door. A droning noise overhead got his attention and he spotted a exo gene dropship landing near where the shuttle had crashed "Oh, come on." he moaned

...

Back with the others...

Twilight was looking at the tiara. "Rarity...shouldn’t you take that off?" she asked, noticing the way the bot was also apparently staring. "It's not doing any harm," said Rarity, "I've barely used any magic with it. Besides, it looks so perfect on me." "You are wearing property of the tech guild." chimed the bot, still looking at the tiara.

"Well, I would return it to them if they came to collect it," said Rarity, "But that doesn't seem likely now, does it?" "Classified cargo must be protected from intruders." said the bot coldly, its optics glowing. "Quite right, we wouldn't want any ruffians to damage this beautiful diadem," said Rarity.

"Remove classified cargo at once." said the bot, rearing up...and a trio of bolts shot into its back from a doorway, sending it sliding across the room. Matt strode in, firing another volley at the crippled machine. "Matt, why did you do that?" asked Twilight. "Because your buddy's real name is Cerberus," said Matt.

"Thats nonsense. We've met cerberus..." began Rarity before a whirring got their attention. The bot slowly got up, the blaster damage visibly vanishing. "Stealth approach: Failed. Initiating combative measures." it said in a much deeper voice. "Get outta here..." yelled Matt, firing again at Cerberus.

The girls didn't need much more convincing. Cerberus was looking more unfriendly by the second. They quickly headed down a corridor. Matt turned his head for a second to make sure they'd escaped before turning back...to see the bot had vanished. "C'mon...show yourself, you glorified toaster." he muttered.

Just then, a blast of energy knocked the blaster out of Matt's hand and when it hit the floor, it was a puddle of molten metal. "Ok, maybe you're more like a glorified microwave," said Matt.

He looked around before spotting a shape crouched halfway up a pillar. It lunged at him in a blur and only luck allowed Matt to avoid it. Matt stood up unsteadily and heard a grinding, turning to see the statue in the room slowly sliding in half. He gulped nervously before the bot landed in front of him, delivering several rapid fire punches to Matts chest before backflipping, kicking him under the chin.

Matt was thrown into a wall with a crack. Fortunately, he was still wearing his battle armor so it was just the walk that cracked. Matt groaned weakly. Though the armour had saved him from broken ribs, the kick had scrambled his marbles. He looked up to see what seemed like three blurry shapes. "That musta been a good kick." he moaned "Neutralizing subject." said the bot before a plasma blast hit Matt in the chest.

...

Unfortunately, Matt hadn’t been seeing triple. The name 'Cerberus' had been given to a model of bot that operated in threes. Matt had been outnumbered the whole time. "We should completely eliminate him," said one Cerberus bot. "Acknowledged, he is a threat to the cargo and the artifact," said a second Cerberus. "Objection, his armor is capable of withstanding our weaponry," said the third, "He could provide important data."

"Agreed...with coercion, he may be able to draw out additional intruders. They have activated a magi field over the west wing entrance. Entry impossible." said the second bot coldly, looking at Matt before claiming "Target lifesigns fluxuating." before he stopped "Additional intruders detected on ranged scan." before the trio leapt into the shadows.

A minute or two later, the gate exploded inwards and a dozen or so troopers in exo gene armor ran in. "Clear." called one of them before spotting Matt. "Shit...Man down."
"Wait a minute, that's Lynch," said one of them, "We should just leave him. It'll save a lot of trouble." The captain of the team, a captain alandros glared "Cause I like to think we're mercs...not marauders. Medic...get him some med nanites...and I want this area locked down. Thats a plasma burn...someone or something shot him."

"This place has been abandoned for who knows how long," said a trooper, "There's no way those ponies could have developed plasma technology, they don't even have computers." "That means we're not alone." said Alandros before calling to where his men were trying to open the west door. "Whats the hold up?" he yelled "Somethings locked the door. I think someones behind here." one of the troopers yelled back.

"Then break down the door," called Alandros. "We tried...the demo charge turned into a rock." yelled the trooper before kicking at the door. "Open the fuck up. We know you're in there." "GO AWAY!" shouted Rainbow Dash's voice. "Like hell...get out here before we show you what we do to CPS killers." retorted the trooper. Alandros rolled his eyes before looking down as Matt coughed, the nanites having already closed his wounds and now working on replacing the lost blood. "Lynch...what did this?" he asked gravely only to look confused as Matt went bug eyed and pointed weakly at the ceiling.

Alandros looked up to see what looked like a robot dog clinging to the ceiling. "What the-" he started. A plasma blast arced down, narrowly missing Alandros and slamming into the medics back. "HOSTILES!" he yelled as two more skittered into view before leaping down into the midst of the squad. It was at that point that all hell broke loose for the squad.

...

"GO AWAY!" shouted Rainbow Dash's voice. The ponies winced as a human voice yelled "Like hell...get out here before we show you what we do to CPS killers." The group had run into a corridor, twilight quickly casting a locking spell on the door. It had just been in time as they had heard the fight before hearing an explosion...and other humans.

"I hope Matt's ok out there," said Fluttershy. "Well, it's not like those guys would just shoot him on sight, right?" asked Pinkie. A plasma blast was suddenly heard and the ponies paled before one of the voices yelled "HOSTILES!" and the sound of weapon fire was heard, coupled with shrieks of pain. The voice that had told them to open the door was heard again, panicking "Open the door, man...open the damn door...c'mon ma-urk." it sad, cutting off with a gurgle.

"Uh, I really don't think you should open that door now," said Rarity. "But Matt's still out there," said Twilight, worried.

Matt was pulled to his feet by alandros. "Get the hell up, Lynch and start shooting." he yelled, handing a pulse blaster to Matt. Matt was about to reply when they were forced to roll to avoid one of the bots who had tried to drop on them before it sprang at a trooper banging at the door, neatly taking the guys head off. "Shit...what the fuck is that?" swore alandros.

"All I know is they're Atlantean, they're homicidal, and they are extremely territorial," said Matt. "All are excellent reason to keep moving," said Alandros before they ran for the door. Matt banged on the door desperately “Open the door...open the door or we’re dead." he yelled panicking a little hysterically. "Quick, Twilight, let them in," said Applejack's voice. "Wait, how do we now it's Matt?" said Pinkie's voice.

Matt yelled "PINKIE!" angrily only for Pinkies voice to say cheerfully "Thats definitely him." The door glowed for a second before Matt tried the door again ant it swung inwards. Alandros yelled "Squad...over here...now!" Two troopers ran into view, one tossing his rifle aside to try and run faster, only for the trio of bots to tackle him. The other one managed to dive inside. "CLOSE THAT DOOR!" yelled Alandros

Matt kicked the door shut just as Twilight cast the locking spell again. It was just in time as one of the bots was leaping at the doorway. "What the hell was that, man?" gibbered the trooper who had made it, the same one who had asked why they should bother healing Matt. "The watchdogs of this place," said Matt, "I don't know what they're malfunction is, but they aren't about to let anyone leave her alive."

Pinkie said glumly "Aw...it seemed so nice earlier." Matt said darkly "Believe me...I found the previous visitors...these guys like to collect." "Ooh, what do they collect?" asked Pinkie, "Do they like to collect seashells? I don't collect seashells, but I know a pony who does. She lives on a beach where she spend a lot of time collecting sea shells. But she doesn't keep every sea shell so she sells sea shells by the sea shore."

"They collect bones." said Matt coldly before getting up only for the trooper to aim at him “Hey...you stay right there...you're still under arrest." Alandros rolled his eyes "Oh, shut up private. I don;t think Lynch and the marshmallow ponies are in any position to escape...neither are we. That halls the only way back to the damn dropship." he said annoyed.

"Hey! Who are you calling a marshmallow?" snapped Rainbow Dash. Alandros sighed "I'm not in the mood...and the commander said we wouldn’t be held responcible for collateral...I just seen friends of mine slaughtered...don;t push me."

"Listen, we all have a problem here," said Twilight, "Those robots are not going to stop until they get us. So we need to stop fighting with each other and start thinking of how to escape." Alandros puts his hands in the air "Finally...the first voice of reason all day. I shoulda aborted when I saw the wrecked ship. Look...this doesn;t change much. Lynch is still under arrest...but that can wait. This place must have a back entrance...we're not using the front door...not unless we take those bots out." he said methodically.

"I did read that the unicorns had a secret back tunnel in case of emergencies," said Twilight, "It was in one of the books at the library. Alandros muttered "And knowing how this days going its in the east wing..." Twilight said "It mentioned it was in the library somewhere but I never got a chance to look." Alandros and the trooper looked at Matt "Are you always this lucky?" asked the trooper.

...

The trip to the library was short and uneventful, but that didn't mean the group was on edge. Once inside, the mercs started pulling the books off the shelves. "What are you doing?" demanded Twilight. "Everyone knows that if there's a secret door in a library, it's triggered by moving one of the books," said the trooper.

Matt rolled his eyes "Guys...GUYS!" he said, before yelling the last part, "This is a magi verse...its probably some wierd spell or a sneeze or something." He said more normally once he had their attention. "Then let's see some magic already," snapped the trooper.

The ponies glared before Twilight lit up her horn, looking around before trotting over to the wall. "Somethings here...but it'll need alot of magic..." she said before the gang turned to look at Rarity. "You did say that tiara supercharges magic, didn’t you Twilight? Lets see if it can do it for you." said matt, reaching for it...and being thrown across the room with a flash and a crack of thunder. "Ow...I guess I don’t have touchy feelie rights." he moaned.

"Sorry, maybe Twilight should use it," said Rarity. Rarity reached for the tiara with her magic and carefully lifted it off before passing it to Twilight. Matt, Alandros and the trooper exchanged a look and slowly got into cover. "Ok, this could be tricky," said Twilight before her horn started glowing, followed by the tiara's amethysts glowing.

Matt covered his ears as Twilights magic burst demolished the wall covering the passage door. Alandros just stared "Damn." he muttered, impressed. "Wow, I didn't know the magic was that powerful," said Twilight. "It belonged to the boss of the unicorns..." said Matt, weakly, shining a light into the passage beyond. "If it gets us out of here, I don't care if belongs to the queen of the fairies," said the trooper.

"Lets just go." said Matt before the distant sound of splintering wood was heard. "Yeah, lets go now." he added urgently. The group quickly hurried into the passageway, though it was a bit cramped as it wasn't made for a large group of escapers or for beings much taller than ponies. "Screw that plan. I'm not going in there." said the rookie trooper, staring at the tunnel. Alandros just sighed "Get in there, you idiot...that things coming."

"If he doesn't want to go, let him stay," said Matt, "Those things will be slowed down when they stop to deal with him." The trooper gulped and said "Well...maybe I should-" before being knocked forward as a plasma burst hit him in the back.

The group turned to see the smoldering hole in the door and the glaring face of the mech peering through it. That immediately eliminated any disapproval for the tunnel and they scurried to get in. Alandros pushed Matt in and pulled a stick out his armoured vest. "Bombs away." he said, tossing the tube into the room before pushing the tunnel door shut. A flash was seen round the door and the ground shook with a 'WHOMPH'. “Lets see that jerk survive that.” alandros muttered.

"You...you destroyed the library..." said Twilight in horror. "What would you prefer...dead library or just being dead?" said Alandros in a matter of fact voice. "But most of those books and scrolls were irreplacable and one-of-a-kind," said Twilight, angrily. "As far as I'm concerned, you are neither and I suggest you get your priorities straight and keep moving," said Alandros. "C'mon, Twi...listen to the nice mercenary with the demo charges." said Matt, mock cheerfully.

Twilight gave them a disapproving look but turned and headed down the tunnel. "Alandros...word of advice...I'd not burn any more books...she's got a real temper." muttered Matt. "I've got bigger worries than hurting a bookworm's feelings," said Alandros. "Bookworm knows many spells...some probably hurt." said Matt casually going past Alandros down the tunnel.

...

Since the humans had to crouch to go through the tunnel, they took a little slower than they all probably would have preferred. The tunnel eventually began to level out after a half hour of sloping down before coming to another door. "Ok, Twi...door blasting time." said Matt before he and Alandros fought to be the first round the corner.

"Ok, just a minute," said Twilight before her horn and the tiara's gems started glowing. Matt covered his ears before the door simply opened slowly, Twilight having gotten used to the tiara's boost. "Ok...that was anti-climatic." said Alandros, dissapointed. "Who cares as long as we're getting out of here," said Matt.

The group scrambled out to find themselves what had been a bedroom, though now it was almost buried in snow thanks to one of the walls missing. Alandros slowly looked up to see the 'roof' consisted of the hull of the crashed atlantean ship. "Crap...bad place to be." he muttered. "Uh, you did park your ship nearby, right?" asked Matt.

"No...we parked in the town below the castle...didn’t wanna risk you just gunning us down before we could even land." said Alandros, a little bitterly. Matt looked up at the ship. "Ah, crap...we're in the east wing again..." he moaned. "So we're back where we started?" said Rainbow Dash. "Nope...this is much worse." commented Matt.

"Now where are we supposed to go?" asked Applejack. "Uh, back into the main hall?" suggested Matt. Fluttershy cringed at that "But...that...things there." she said. Alandros shook his head "Not likely...its probably following the same tunnel...we should be able to sneak out the doors and get out of here." "Then we better hurry before it catches up," said Applejack.

...

Apart from the weapon damage, the hall looked like no battle had taken place at all, the bodies removed by the cerberus bots. "Ok...thats just creepy...it does house cleaning too?" muttered Matt. "What if it...eats them?" asked Fluttershy in a scared voice. "Robots don't need to eat," said Alandros.

Matt heard a scuttling and looked up to see one of the bots on the roof. "Oh hell. However, they can climb." he said, firing up at the bot. The bot dropped down from the ceiling, neatly turning so it landed on its feet. "Girls, get going, we'll hold it off," said Matt. "We can;t just..." began Rainbow before a blast bounced off the wall next to her, Alandros yelling "Get moving, pony girl." he yelled, turning his gun to another bot.

The girls decided they didn't have time to argue, especially since the third bot will probably be arriving soon. Matt and Alandro backed up ,back to back. “I'm presuming you have a plan other then 'die'." said Matt, out the corner of his mouth. Alandros shrugged as the two bots slowly circled like wolves "Thought I'd take a leaf out of your book and wing it, Lynch."

"I don't always wing it," said Matt, "Just when I don't know what I'm up against." "Like now?" said Alandros, adding in a low voice "And there's the last of the three stooges." nodding to where the third bot was coming in through the smashed west wing door. "This is your final warning," said the third bot, "Surrender and your destruction will be mercifully swift." "Oh yeah...do your worst.” yelled Matt, Alandros facepalming and saying "Tell me, Lynch...does your brain ever visit the planet earth?"

"Activation gestalt program," said the bots. Two of them seemed to collapse halfway on the left and right sides respectively, their front and back pairs of legs being drawn into one. The third retracted its limbs and seemed to bulk up even more. Then the first two attached themselves to the sides of the third, resulting in a large three-headed version of the dog bots.

Alandros and Matt looked at each other before Alandros said "The board doesn;t pay me enough." and the two ran for it. The Cerberus bot followed after them, two of its heads blasting at them. "Bloody atlanteans and their bloody stupid robo-pooches." yelled Matt as the two ran out into the snow, dodging plasma bursts.

"You just had to provoke it, didn't you?" snapped Alandros. "How was I supposed to know they could combine into a three-headed death machine?" snapped Matt. "Its called 'CERBERUS'...what did you think it would do?" yelled Alandros, as they dodged into the ruined village. "So...maybe we can play some music and it'll go to sleep?" suggested Matt.

"How the hell have you dodged us for so long?" said Alandros in a tired voice, peering out into the street for their pursuer. "I try to be as unpredictable as possible," said Matt. "For gods sake...Lets just get the hell out of here...hopefully your friends had the sense to run for the dropship." said Alandros. "Uh...you mean your dropship?" asked Matt.

"Yes...the heavily armed assault ship with cannons that can turn that tin can into so much scrap." said Alandros angrily. "Good, I just hope it's fast enough to keep up with Fluffy's movements," said Matt. There was a cracking noise at that "What the hell was-" began Alandros before the wall beside the group seemed to explode, Cerberus easily smashing the wall apart to reach them.

"You have got to be kidding me," said Matt before shooting wildly at the dog bot. The machine roared angrily as the two mercs fired at it, swatting them both out into the street, the only thing stopping them from being smeared being the deep snow from the eternal snowstorm.

"Ok, the Atlanteans were really, really advanced, but they weren't perfect," groaned Matt as he slowly got back up, "This thing has to have a weak point." "Like what?" said Alandros, sorely as the cerberus tore its way out of the building. "Well, I don't think it spent too much time outside since it's been here," said Matt, "Maybe if we keep it out in the snow, its systems will freeze and it shuts down."

"It'll probably have to be out here for hours...we can’t be lucky for that long." said Alandros, wincing. Matt looked over "Whats wrong...aw hell." he asked, before spotting where the bot had slashed Alandros through his armor when it had knocked them into the street. "It hurts, but it's not stopping me from moving," said Alandros, "We can't afford to stand in one place for too long."

Are you nuts? You’re almost sliced in half." said Matt disbelivingly, pulling Alandros up and putting an arm round him to help him along, the two heading up the street. "I'm just going to slow you down," said Alandros, "Those locals won't stand a chance if that thing gets both of us." "Like hell I’m leaving you to that things tender mercies." said Matt angrily. Alandros returned the glare before holding up a demo charge "That thing slaughtered my men...call this payback..now sod off." he said, pushing Matt back.

"You don't have the strength to hurl that thing right," said Matt. "Who said anything about hurling it?" said Alandros coldly, twisting the top of the charge and starting its timer. Matt really didn't want to leave Alandros's side, but he only had a limited amount of seconds to get clear of him. "See ya on the other side, Lynch." said Alandros mock cheerfully as the cerberus pulled itself round the corner.

...

Alandros watched as Matt reluctantly ran for it before looking up at the atlantean machine. "Can I help you?" he mocked before wincing as it picked him up by the neck. "Got...something...for you." he rasped. The six optics barely had time to register the fact that Alandros had a live grenade before it blew up.

...

The ponies had managed to find their way to where the exo gene ship had been parked, the large ship both familier from its sister vessels attack on ponyville and the fact that its black/grey pattern stood out in the snow. "Ok, we just hide in there until Matt comes back," said Twilight, "We should be safe." "Uh, how do we get in?" asked Rainbow Dash.

A loud explosion was heard from the town, a fireball visible over the roofs. "Ah hope that wasn;t Lynch." said Applejack in a worried tone before Matt was spotted heading round the corner. "Matt, what happened to-" started Twilight before Matt said, "He gave us a chance to escape and we have to do it now."

The dropship itself was already half iced up, a testimony to the storms ferocity. Matt opened up a hatch and gulped, the meter on the display inside showing a blue sliver and several warnings. "Engines are iced...they'll need to warm up." he said, pressing a button on the display and shutting it.

"Maybe we should have brought Spike along after all," said Rarity, "Oh, why did he have to start shedding this week?" Matt turned as a column of snow was seen fountaining up in the distance. "You have got to be kidding me. Get in the dropship and try not to attract attention." said Matt, gravely, heading up the ramp to open a gear cabinet and pulling a pulse cannon out. "If this doesn;t kill it..." he muttered, not finishing the thought.

"Matt, you can't fight that thing, it's too powerful," said Rainbow Dash. "And the windigos are still out there," said Fluttershy urgently, as roar from the clouds reminding Matt of the storms architects. "If I don't slow that tin can down, it'll get here before the ships finished warming up. You'll be able to call Aria to come pick you up...anyway, I didn’t put 'dying' into my diary this week..." said Matt, adding the last part a little cockily, thinking '...cause I don;t own one.'

As Matt walked out with the pulse cannon, he said to himself, "Ok, that thing took a grenade to the face, er, faces. Surely that's got to have done some damage." The ponies watched as Matt headed back towards the town, the pulse cannon slung over his shoulder unsteadily. "We're following him, right?" said Rainbow dash out the corner of her mouth. "About 20 paces behind," replied Rarity.

...

Matt peered around the corner into the main square. "Hello? Where are yoooou?" he called. Matt peered around and said to himself, "It's a huge robotic three-headed dog, it should stick out like a sour thumb." On cue, the building at the far end, the ruins of some kind of town hall exploded to allow the atlantean bot free, its six optics focussing on him. "There he is.” whimpered Matt before pulling the pulse cannon down. "Ok...button here." Matt muttered as the droid began to slowly lope towards him through the thick snow.

"Just gotta hit it right in the middle," muttered Matt as he reached for the trigger. "Warning: safety is enabled." chimed a male voice from the weapon "You gotta be kidding." whimpered Matt, before hearing a thud, looking up and being knocked flying across the square. "Ow...uh, can you give me a minute to get my gun ready?" called Matt.

The bots reply was to throw a piece of masonry at Matt, who only just rolled in time to avoid. "Oh, come on! It's common courtesy!" yelled Matt. Matt shook the pulse cannon desperately as the bot strode towards him. "Come on...please work." he whimpered before being grabbed and hung in front of the bot upside down. "Oh...erm...hi," he said nervously before a green light came lit up on the cannon. "Safety disabled." it chimed. Matt aimed in the bots face. "Erm...its for you." he said, firing at point blank.

Fortunately, the safety disable included the kickback inhibitor, which allowed Matt to be thrown clear of the explosion. "Ow..." moaned Matt, getting up unsteadily before seeing the bot face down in the snow, smoking. "Heh...HAHAHA...Take that, you sorry excuse for a Ipet." he said, laughing a little hysterically.

"Yay! You beat the monster!" yelled Pinkie Pie. Matt turned to see the girls there. "I thought I told you to stay on the ship," said Matt. "We thought we might be able to help beat that big metal meanie pants." said Pinkie cheerfully, bouncing in the snow. "Yes...I guess I did." said Matt a little tired, adding "Well...revenge is meant to be served cold...we are in the right place."

"You sure that thing won't get back up?" asked Applejack. "Oh please...I shot it with an anti-ship weapon. Its not gonna get..." began Matt before a plasma burst shot skyward as the bot got back up, the dents and slashes in its armor visibly vanishing. "This unit is inconvenienced...full termination authorized." it said coldly before a angry pain filled shriek was heard from the clouds.

"Oh, now what?" snapped Matt. "Er, you think that thing can feel hate?" asked Applejack. "I’d say so." said Matt, gulping before looking up to see three ghostly white horses descending, one sporting a black scorch on its side from the wild plasma blast. Their gazes seemed to say 'Who did that?' as they peered angrily at the group. Matt pointed at the bot and said childishly "He did it."

The windigos shrieked before soaring towards the Cerberus bot. The robot looked at the windigos and stated, "Abnormal decrease in temperature detected, source confirmed as ice-based anomaly. Neutralizing threat." Then each of the three heads spat a blast at each of the windigos. Matt pushed the ponies back "Leg it while they decide who wins." he said panicking.

The group quickly ran back to the ship, the windigos' shrieking and the sound of gunfire was heard as the battle behind them intensified. Matt was first into the dropship, climbing the ladder in the troop compartment up to the cockpit. "Please work." he repeated under his breath before grinning as the control board lit up green across and the whine of the engines starting was heard. "Time to go..." he said, closing the troop compartment and starting to lift the dropship up.

He got a good sight of the windigo's trying to freeze the cerberus bot, only for the bot to smash free and fire several ineffectual shots. He then looked down to see that the dropships dashboard indicated a full loadout. "Waste not, want not." he said, firing every missile the ship had at the combatants.

Considering that the payload was enough to completely demolish the whole village, Matt decided it would probably not be a good idea to stay too close. "Time to leave." he commented, pulling back on the controls and making the dropship spin in place before he hit the afterburners.

The dropship sped away from the mountain before a huge explosion engulfed one side of it, nearly causing the dropship to tumble out of the air. Matt winced, realising his 'final word' must have hit the crashed atlantean ship to have caused such a spectacular result. "If anyone asks, I did that on purpose." he muttered to himself, before peering down the ladder into the troop transport. "No auto pilot this time..." he said cheerfully before adding a little nervously "I might have blown up the castles library...again. My bad."

Twilight didn't respond, she just had a shocked expression frozen on her face. "Uh, Twi, you ok there?" asked Applejack. Matt winced "I had a similar expression when techo blew up my room." he said sympathetically. "Is she going to be ok?" asked Fluttershy. "Don't worry, she'll be just fine," said Pinkie, "It'll take a lot more than that to break her."

"If I ever see another robot, it'll be too...ah smeg." said Matt, his cheerfulness stopping when he realised he lived with bots 24/7. "Well, it wasn't a total loss," said Rarity, "True, I had to leave behind a lot of items back there, but at least we have the tiara."

Matt peered at the Tiara on twilights head. "Yeaaaah, lets take that off Twilight before she wakes up." he commented. "Uh, I thought only she could take it off," said Pinkie. "Uh oh...I hope we land before she wakes up then." said Matt nervously. "How far is it to Ponyville?" asked Rainbow Dash.

"A few hours......I'm doomed." said Matt, adding the last part, gloomily.

...

Back at Ponyville, the girls were drinking plenty of hot cocoa to warm back up. Although Matt would probably be needing more than hot cocoa. He was currently half frozen, luckily Ponyvilles warm weather meaning he was thawing quickly. "I....c-c-c-can;t believe th-that you fr-fr-froze me." he chattered at Twilight. "It was an accident," said Twilight, "You know, a reflex."

"J-just c-c-c-cause I'm a merc...doesn;t m-mean I'm.....stupid." said Matt, his eye twitching. Twilights first action upon waking had been to blast Matt with a ice spell, much to the mercs horror. "Well, maybe the tiara was reacting to my subconscious desires," said Twilight. "Oh.....goody. Its....sentient. I hate it when they do that." said Matt, annoyed before shivering again. "Keep chipping."

The spider-drones who had been working on freeing Matt from his ice block sped up a little. "You know, it would be much quicker to just thaw the ice off," said Aria. Matt shook his head "Hell no...I like my arse where its located...not burnt off." "Girls…and guy, I just thought of something," said Twilight, "If those Atlantean guys had one of the Primium Artifacts, they probably have the other two."

"Where would the other two be anyways?" asked Rainbow Dash. "I dunno...underground..." said Matt, bored. "Well, I reckon we oughta find them 'fore someone else does," said Applejack. "Huh..." muttered Matt.

...

<Log initiated>

'Ok...not been my best week....though venting on those griffon jerks was great fun...crashing in a winter wonderland was NOT! Not to mention having to deal with not one, not two, but THREE rogue Atlantean robots were fully intent to rend me to pieces.

Hate to say it but if Alandros and his team hadn;t turned up to catch me, none of us would have left. Poor guy... Still, I hope I can put this whole week behind me. I don't see any particular reason to go chasing after magical hats. I mean, it's not like there's any wrong hands around here for them to fall into, right?’

...

The night watch on the Icarus was boring, even with the current operation. The tech in charge of the scanning that night was therefore surprised to see Darius coming in. "Sir..." he said urgently, jumping up with a salute. "At ease...got a job for you. Decoded some of the info we got from that atlantean base." Darius said, tossing a removable drive to the tech.

"Sir, we haven't heard back from Alandros and Viper Team for some time," said the tech. "Lynch probably did them in. He's been going through a lot of our men lately," said Darius. The tech looked at the new info, a list of coordinates appearing on a map with several atlantean runes at points. "It'll take a while to integrate this into the scanners...what are we looking for?" he said, missing the faint glow in Darius's eyes as he said "An advantage."

Comments

[Silentwoodfire]

At this point I have to say, i think this is
A. Cut from Whole Cloth
B. Some sort of internal snapshot into Pinkie's Brain
C. A long tale where Murphey's Law finds ONE guy and keeps punching him in the balls...repeatedly
D. All of the above.

Why am I still reading this?

Because you can't.